The Help of Draco Malfoy
by JeffersonStar
Summary: Harry, Ron and Hermione only have five days to save the life of their trusted, furry friend, Crookshanks. But the only way to achieve this is to ask for help; help from Draco Malfoy. (Fluffy Drarry fic set in their sixth year of Hogwarts, may also include Ron/Hermione, we'll see)


Harry didn't want to do this. He really, really didn't. But, unfortunately, and as always, he had to.

He struggled to walk down the hallway without dragging his feet, every step bringing him closer to his inevitable personal horror. In the far end of the hallway he could see him – Draco Malfoy; the insufferable prat who had spent the majority of his attendance at Hogwarts tormenting Harry and his friends, casting hexes and shouting insults at them across classrooms, every single day. And now Harry had to ask him for help.

Terrific.

As he was only a few yards away, the platinum blonde seemed to notice Harry walking towards him, and as he happened to be flanked by Crabbe and Goyle, he smirked and crossed his arms in front of his chest, obviously conjuring up a fresh insult in his head.

"What now, Potter? Did the weasel and mudblood ditch you… again?"

Harry sighed as Crabbe and Goyle snickered as if Draco's comment was the funniest thing they had heard all day (and it probably was).

"Shut up, Malfoy. I have to talk to you."

Malfoy arched an eyebrow in confusion. This he hadn't expected from his most-hated rival _at all_.

"And what on earth makes you think that I want to listen?"

"Just, come on," Harry replied irritably as he grabbed hold of Draco's arm and dragged him off around the corner, away from his trusted goons. They obviously weren't prepared for that either as they all of a sudden seemed to be lost without their leader, looking around, scratching their necks and heads, and wondering whether or not they should follow.

Around the corner and a bit away from everyone, where Harry was sure no one would listen, he stopped at the same time as Malfoy got over the initial shock and pulled his arm back out of Harry's grip.

"What on earth do you think your d-"

"Save it, Malfoy, we haven't got much time before classes begin," Harry interrupted quickly before the blonde could start a rant that would definitely last forever. "I need your help."

Malfoy's eyes squinted incredulously at that. "You _what?_"

"Hermione's cat Crookshanks followed us to the Potions classroom yesterday and accidentally consumed a Colour Changing Potion that Neville had spilt on the floor before receiving detention for it. Professor Snape then chased Crookshanks out before we'd noticed what had happened. And when Hermione found him later, it was obvious that he wasn't feeling well, so she did a spell to find out what was wrong and found that he had been poisoned because the potion had gone wrong. She wanted to ask Snape for help, but I convinced her that he definitely wouldn't want to help _us_. And that's when I came up with idea that we could ask for you to talk to him about an antidote, since he's your godfather and everything, y'know, but then they were both like, 'Harry, you have to do it, it's your idea!' and then I had no choice but to come to you, as we only have five days left before Crookshanks… dies."

The words had gushed out of Harry like a thundering river, and now it was all of a sudden very quiet and a bit awkward as Draco continued to stare at Harry incredulously, his mouth slightly agape.

"So what you're telling me," he managed to drawl after a while, "is that the insufferable know-it-all, Mudblood Granger, doesn't know the antidote to a simple Colour Changing Potion-gone-wrong?"

"No, and we haven't got time or resources to find the recipe and make it ourselves," Harry answered, completely ignoring the blonde's insulting nicknames for his friend.

A devilish smirk slowly formed on Malfoy's face.

"Well, then I guess we've finally found something she isn't best at."

"What are you talking about?"

"… I know the antidote."

"What?"

"Mmhmm."

"You've got to be kidding me."

"Nope."

Harry gave him a calculating look. "Then will you help us?"

A moment of silence.

"All right. But only to show that Granger what _real_ potion skills are."

* * *

Harry did best as he could to ignore the tense, awkward atmosphere in the room while watching Malfoy flip through the pages of a small, black book he had brought to the Room of Requirement on the seventh floor. But it turned out to be quite hard when Ron was standing in the far corner, tapping his foot and barely trying to conceal his obvious hatred and loathing towards the platinum blonde, and Hermione stood next to Harry, shifting uncomfortably on her feet, not knowing where to look.

The Chosen Boy sighed and wondered what time it was. Shortly after, there was a ticking to his left and he turned to find a watch hanging on the wall above the door, indicating that the time was half past four.

'Great,' he thought, 'another way to insinuate the awkwardness of the situation.'

Hermione looked up at the watch too and turned her head to shoot Harry a weak, apologetic smile.

Harry frowned. "It's not your fault, Her-"

"Potter, would you kindly shut your mouth and keep quiet while I'm reading?" Malfoy cut in without looking up from his book, not even letting Harry finish his sentence.

Harry glared at the boy and sighed. "Yes, Malfoy."

The silence then wore on, Ron starting to fume because he felt that Malfoy had just given him another reason to hate his guts, and Hermione doing all she could to pretend she didn't exist. Though, now there was the addition of the clock on the wall ticking, dividing the long-lasting quiet into seconds.

A couple of minutes later Malfoy suddenly exclaimed, "Found it," tapping a finger to the page he had been searching for. "Finally!" Ron sighed dramatically, earning him a deadly glare from his blonde nemesis. Hermione inched closer to look at the recipe, followed closely by Harry and Ron. Draco then started reading aloud from the description at the top of the page.

"_Reversal Potion; a magical substance created to reverse any purpose of another potion to the original state when said potion has malfunctioned. Update: Only works if consumer of potion is still alive._

"_Estimated time for preparation: 4 days._

"_Estimated time for brewing: 30 minutes."_

"I've never heard about this potion, Malfoy," Hermione stated. "And I've read all the books about potions there are to be found both at Hogwarts and Flourish and Blotts."

"That's because I invented it myself, Granger," Draco answered snidely, his lips forming a smirk. "Severus always gives me all the resources I need, whenever I need them."

"Wait, did you say four days?!" Ron exclaimed incredulously. "That's too long, isn't it?"

"Salazar, Weasley, would you stop your incessant gibberish!" Malfoy retorted, rolling his eyes. "I always add the time I use to manually find the ingredients, so the estimated time isn't to be taken into account right now."

"And if you talk to Professor Snape, you would be able to get the ingredients, right?" Hermione said; it was more like a statement than a question.

"Yes. Except for one, which we'll have to find for ourselves in the Forbidden Forest to get it as fast as possible. Oh, and it has to be at midnight."

"Are you referring to fluxweed?"

"Yes."

" But entering the Forbidden Forest at midnight? How do you suggest we do that?"

"I was guessing Harry could figure that out since he seems to be so well-trained in sneaking in and out of the castle by now," he drawled, glancing at The Chosen Boy with a knowing smirk.

Harry frowned. How could Malfoy know about that? He had only caught them sneaking out once in their first year. Or did he know something Harry didn't?

"Yeah, sure," was his only reply, though. No need admitting to something he wasn't certain Malfoy knew anything about after all.

"Marvellous," Draco said with a sarcastic smile. "Now I will go talk to my godfather and get started on the potion." He was nearly at the door when he turned around with a dark expression and ice in his voice. "If any of you ever so much as breath a word about our agreement outside of this room, I will personally invite You-Know-Who over for Christmas and properly introduce him to Potter. Understood?"

"Understood," they all mumbled – Harry couldn't resist doing an eye-roll – and then Draco Malfoy was out the door and gone.

…

"Well that was delightful, wasn't it?" Ron blurted out.

"Shut up, Ronald," two voices echoed.

* * *

**Author's note: **Any thoughts? I don't know. I just wanted to try it. Feel free to review, favourite and follow; it keeps me motivated… and helps me keep the demons out at night.


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